The Ottawa District Badminton Association came into being Friday
January 10, 1930 when a meeting of 11 of the regional clubs met to form a
governing body to control local badminton affairs. The clubs represented at
this historical meeting were:

∑Badminton Club of Ottawa
*

∑Rideau Badminton Club *

∑Garrison Badminton Club *

∑Church League (representing 10 league teams)

∑P.L.D.G. Badminton Club *

∑Glebe Community Badminton Club

∑38th Highlanders Badminton Club *

∑G.G.F.G. Badminton Club

∑Y.M.C.A Badminton Club

∑Y.W.C.A. Badminton Club *

∑Engineerís Badminton Club *

* Actual founding clubs with the formal acceptance of their
membership requests by the first elected executive of the ODBA.

The first chairman selected to oversee the start of the new ODBA
was H.S. Southam with Guy S. Macfarlane selected as
secretary. A special follow up meeting January 23 1930 saw the first ODBA
executive elected by the clubs:

∑Honorary President HS Southam

∑President John B McRae

∑Vice-President Col. EW Sansom

∑Secretary WN Keenan

∑Treasurer Guy S. Macfarlane

Costs for the clubs to join ODBA in 1930 were:

∑Clubs of 50 or less $ 5.00

∑Clubs of 51 to 100 $ 7.50

∑Each additional 100 members $ 2.50

In the early days of ODBA the Badminton Club of Ottawa was far and
away the strongest club in the region being the holders of all the major club
trophies of the time and with national champions of the day as members

Through the 1930ís the ODBA has several national champions playing
out of the Badminton Club of Ottawa

∑Margret Robertson

∑Ruth Robertson

∑Bev Mitchell

∑George "Junior" Goodwin

In the 1930ís ODBA was recognized as one of the leading badminton
centers in Canada
and on 2 occasions hosted the Canadian Badminton Championships (1930 and 1935)

During the 1940í the sport of badminton suffered a severe downturn
and ODBA was no different. ODBA in effect ceased to exist until 1955 when Dave
Waddell put a lot of effort into reviving the sport of badminton in the region
and again getting ODBA up and running.

After the war years the clubs that made up ODBA now became:

∑Commerce Badminton Club

∑St Paulís Badminton Club

∑CMHC Badminton Club

∑Navy Badminton Club

∑FisherPark Badminton Club

∑All Saints Badminton Club

∑RCAF Badminton Club

∑YMCA Badminton Club

By the end of the decade the 1959 ODBA championships had 133
entries and had to play the event over 5 days - badminton was back in the ODBA

The 1960ís saw a slow but steady growth of the ODBA with one major
addition, the RA Badminton Club, joining the ODBA by the end of the 1960 there
were just under 20 clubís belonging to the ODBA

The 1970ís saw continued growth and led by the Commerce Badminton
Club and the RA Badminton Club the level of badminton in the region was again
on the rise. In 1979 RA Badminton Club member John Czich
won the Canadian Menís Singles - the first title for the region since 1936.

The late 70ís and early 1980ís saw the ODBA attain the largest
number of clubs in its history (over 30) and badminton was booming.

The later part of the 1980ís saw a small downturn in the club
numbers which by 1989 were down to 9 clubs.

The 1990ís again brought a turn in the fortunes
of the ODBA with continued growth and a club total that eventually reach 24 by
the end of the century but more importantly the sport was again booming with
National Championships, the Canadian Open and many other events of national
importance hosted by the RA Badminton Club and with many ODBA members winning
national titles highlighted by Mike Bitten and Bryan Blanchard winning 5
consecutive National Menís Doubles Titles:

∑Bryan Blanchard

∑Mike Bitten

∑Doris Piche

∑Mike Beres

The early part of the new millennium has seen ODBA become the
largest region (in terms of members) in the province and the emergence of new
stars along with the old. Mike Beres and Andrew Dabeka have been joined as national champions by Kara Solmundson, Kyle Hunter, and StephaneWojcikiewicz.

At this time in the history of ODBA (2005), Ottawa
is arguably the leading region for badminton in Canada
being the largest region for the sport in Ontario, with numerous national champions
and unlimited potential for growth.